Changing Grace
by AmaraJoy
Summary: Grace Dixon is alone in Atlanta during the zombie apocalypse and has to fight her way out, but she knows she's not the only one fighting. In the changing world, Grace must decide between helping the people she knows she can, or turning her back on everyone to protect herself after an accident that left three scars on her face. Read and find out.
1. Prologue

Changing Grace

~Prologue~

I awoke with a start to a scraping nail noise on my apartment door, you know that noise. The one that sounds like nails going down a chalkboard. I walked up to the door and looked out of the peephole. It was a man with bloody eye sockets, a purple vein covered face with blood all over his mouth, and what looked like a dislocated shoulder. I quickly ran for my phone before trying to call the police. Of course, the line went dead as soon as someone picked up the phone screaming. My years in med-school never gave me the course on how to deal with these kinds of people so I did the logical thing and grabbed a chair from my "kitchen" and jammed it up against the lock before looking around frantically for a heavier item that I, a twenty-five year old, in all my 125lbs of solid muscle could lift...I ran to my room and pushed my dresser all the way to the front and covered the door. After hearing the sirens and the emergency broadcasts, I stayed trapped in my little apartment. It was a week later that I ran out of food and I knew the day would come that I'd have to step outside. What I wasn't expecting, was how different it had looked after only a week. Anyways, I guess I should introduce myself before I tell you the rest of my story. My name is Grace Dixon. I'm twenty-five years old, I was a med student in Georgia before moving to Atlanta in search of my older brothers Daryl and Merle and I'm a survivor of the zombie apocalypse. This is the story of how my life changed rapidly the second I opened the door to my apartment.


	2. Chapter 1

Ch.1

* * *

~Grace's POV~

I stepped outside for the first time in a week today. It's been a rough week. First the crazed man at my door and then all of the sirens and emergency broadcasts. To be honest, I was terrified to even look outside, so I didn't. I could still hear the screams of my neighbor and her daughter, her young fourteen-year-old daughter. It was dark out, but it wasn't night. The smoke from burning buildings and a plane that went down on the third day were heavy in the air and it was hard to see clearly. The groans reach my ears immediately, but I knew I had to find a place with weapons. One of the broadcasts said to aim for their head, so I was going to search for the thing I knew how to use best, a bow and arrow. I ran as quiet as possible to the gun and ammo store just down the street, I guess that's the perk of living in an apartment right in town. I got in through the back since the front was boarded up.

"Now where are those bows at?" I thought out loud to myself, not thinking anyone was in the store.

How wrong I was.

*groan*

"Who's there?" I ask, turning around in a circle looking for the noise.

*groan*

'What the hell?' I ask myself, going toward the counter.

I jumped back as soon as I saw the store owner, trapped to the wall by some rope and a knife piercing his left hand and trapping it to the wall. I knew already that he was one of the dead walking. It wasn't hard to tell with the veined face and bloodthirsty eyes.

"I'm not gonna leave you like this..." I say out loud, quickly moving around the store and grabbing the items I need.

I quickly attach the thigh holster and slide a knife and handgun in before grabbing a bow and arrows, lots of arrows. I found a bag and quickly load it with all the ammo that was available for the handgun before grabbing a gunsmithing kit. I also threw on a pair of combat boots that were in the back, possibly getting ready for sale...well...not anymore I guess. I also grabbed a knife sharpener and a sleeping bag and attached it to my bag, you can never be too prepared. I also decided last minute to grab an axe for close combat and it would always be in my hands.

"I'm so sorry this happened to you..." I wince, moving closer towards the store owner.

*groan*

'I'm sorry...' I think one last time before slamming the old knife I found into his temple.

His silent moans and groans ceased and I silently left the same way I entered, closing the door behind me. I put the key in my pocket just in case I needed to come back again. I climbed the ladder to the right of the store to the roof so that I could see if any were close by. I guess it was a good idea too because there was a group heading towards the store. I laid flat on the roof until the sky truly went dark and fell asleep to the horrible sound of groans.

A scream and a few gunshots nearby woke me in the middle of the night and my body immediately tensed in fear.

"Wait...maybe I can help them..." I say, quickly looking for any signs of them before climbing down and running towards the scream.

I walked into the warehouse and see multiple bodies of the reanimated dead scattered around. I try to find the source of the scream and see a girl standing in a far corner with a gun pointed at me.

"WOW! WAIT! I'm human...alive." I say, raising my hands up in defense.

"Doesn't mean your safe." she says and if glares could kill, I'd be six feet under.

"I heard you scream. I thought I could help since i'm a trained nurse." I say, slowly putting my axe in the holster on my waist.

"What the hell is that accent?" she asks, making a scoffing noise.

"I'm from Georgia, is that a problem?" I ask, raising an eyebrow.

"Feisty, I like you already. Nah the accent is cool. I'm from Hawaii. Came here for school. The name's Roan." she says, slowly moving out of the shadows until she's in front of me.

"My name is Grace...Grace Dixon." I say, holding my hand out for her to shake.

She grabs it with a thoughtful look.

"...Dixon...I know that last name. OH YEAH! Daryl. I worked with him for a few years in construction. I was the one who had to grab the equipment because the men never knew what to look for." she rambles on while i'm frozen in place.

"Daryl...you knew Daryl?" I ask, slowly coming out of my daze.

"Yeah, is he your husband? You look a little young for him." she says, sizing me up.

"I'd rather gouge my eyes out and serve it on a platter to the dead. He's my older brother. I haven't seen him in years. Him and my other brother Merle left me in Georgia to finish school. Assholes if you ask me." I say, smiling when she laughs uncontrollably.

"I like your humor. Maybe we can stick together for a while. I'd imagine it gets lonely being away from home." Roan says, cocking her head to the side.

"It sure does." I smiled at her, she looks like a puppy when she does that.

"Let's get out of the open. Those dead assholes like to pop out of nowhere, like daisies." Roan says, grabbing my hand and dragging me towards a door.

"That's an insult to daisies and where are we going?" I ask as she pulls open the door.

"The roof. Duh." she says, making sure the door doesn't slam behind us before climbing.

"How many flights of stairs are there?" I ask, looking straight up the stairwell.

"Only seven...maybe eight." she shrugs, climbing the stairs quickly.

I follow silently behind her until we reach the top.

"Jesus..." I say, looking out at the city.

"Yeah. As far as I can tell, no one in the plane survived. The world is going to shit and the government pretty much gave up on evacuations. I grabbed everything I could before climbing up to this roof." Roan signs, sitting down on the sleeping bag that was rolled out.

"I guess it's a good thing I grabbed this." I say, untying my sleeping bag and laying it out.

"Most people would have grabbed all the guns and ammo they could find….you grab an axe, a handgun, a bow and a shit ton of arrows. What else did you grab?" she asks, raising an eyebrow at me.

"I grabbed all the ammo I could find for said handgun, these boots, and three canisters and a filter for water. Oh...and this knife." I say, pulling out the knife on the thigh holster.

"You are by far the smartest person I've seen so far." she says, a smile playing at her lips.

"You aren't so bad yourself." I say, motioning to the boxes of canned food, soda, chips, and candies.

"Have to survive somehow, even if it's on junk food and soda." she shrugs, pulling out a bag of chips.

"Here's to the shit government and the apocalypse of the dead." I say, grabbing one of the sodas.

We clanked our cans together before we ate the chips and starred at the burning city.

* * *

…...because who needs consistency when you already have three stories to write. Why not add a fourth to the mix am I right? Daryl, Merle and the others from TWD will probably never actually be in this story but I hope you follow along with Grace and Roan (OC and best friends OC) on their own adventures into the changing world. BAIBAI! -Amara


	3. Chapter 2 preview

Ch.2

~Last time~

"Here's to the shit government and the apocalypse of the dead." I say, grabbing one of the sodas.

We clanked our cans together before we ate the chips and starred at the burning city.

~Preview of Next time~

With Roan by my side days quickly turned into weeks and weeks into months. It's been two months since I left my apartment and found Roan. It's amazing how we hardly fight, hardly argue and always know what the other is going to say. Some could say it was fate that we met and I was beginning to believe it myself. We'd done multiple supply runs and have yet to come across anyone...well...any living person. Roan was a badass with a blade and she knew what she was doing when it came to getting shit and getting out. We took our time leaving the roof of the building we left in, but after a few weeks we realized that if we stayed in one place we would eventually be found by both the living and dead. So we hot-wired a car and drove to the other side of town. We found a new hideout in a dense forest. A small two bedroom house that was hidden away with a now-dead owner and a white horse. After we buried the dead, we made sure the horse was fed and set up the house. We remodeled it entirely to our own tastes, which weren't very different, since we planned on staying there until it was no longer possible. Which...I didn't know wouldn't be for so long.

…...forgive me for it only being a preview, but I've been so busy with work and even when i'm off i'm never home T~T I'll update it fully when I can and I promise I'll try to make it long. Thank you to those who have favorited and commented! Baibai for now -Amara


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